


The Way You Dot Your "i"'s

by klancepngs



Category: Yuuri!!! on Ice - Fandom
Genre: ACTUAL FLUFF, Alternate Universe - High School, Be kind please, Friends to Lovers, Highschool AU, M/M, Otaburi, i'll stop tagging now so i don't flood shit but just know i am a whore for comments so hmu, look guys this is my first fic i'm posting on ao3 so just, otayuri - Freeform, rated teen for yuri's language smh, sorta - Freeform, we know that beka has many talents and i choose to believe that one of them is acting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-20 06:09:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10656531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klancepngs/pseuds/klancepngs
Summary: The last thing Yuri Plisetsky expected to be doing with his day was searching for a certain handwriting, collecting samples to compare with a scribbled graffiti on a bathroom stall.But hey, c'est la vie.





	The Way You Dot Your "i"'s

**Author's Note:**

> hello this is a cute little highschool!AU for otayuri it’s my second fic ever don’t judge me  
> anyways this was supposed to be a funny little crack fic based on some starter but here we are with 3486 words and a whole lot of regret

The last thing Yuri Plisetsky expected to be doing with his day was searching for a certain handwriting, collecting samples to compare with a scribbled graffiti on a bathroom stall.  
But hey, c'est la vie.

It started when he got bored in math, as per usual, as per pretty much every day of his life. All he wanted was a break from the monotony of trigonometry–why did he need to know how to turn degrees into radians? How would this affect his life?  
He raised his hand to go to the bathroom, desperate for any distraction and a chance to use his phone while hidden away in a bathroom stall. When the teacher finally complied, he took his time in a lazy stroll down the hallway, peering into classrooms full of people, catching quick glances of people he knew. Yuuri Katsuki looked excited as ever to be in Home Ec, not surprising given his painfully obvious moon-sized crush on the student helper, Viktor. Yuri rolled his eyes as he passed, seeing Viktor leaning over Katsuki, guiding his hand unnecessarily through what should have been simple stitches. In the next classroom, Leo de la Iglesia and Guanghong Ji were passing notes in American Literature. After that, Mila Babicheva and Sara Crispino were shamelessly flirting their way through a chemistry lab. Yuri scoffed. He knew prom was coming up, so of course love was in the air. Idiots. High school relationships are doomed to fail. This was one thing Yuri knew for sure. (And of course, this had nothing to do with the fact that he had never been in one. Not in the slightest.)  
Finally entering the bathroom, Yuri found his way to his favorite stall, the one all the way in the back, furthest from the door, providing the most protection from any wary teachers who might enter.  
He locked the door to the stall and crouched on top of the toilet in it, opening up his phone. He scrolled through instagram, liking a few photos here and there, pausing when he saw something out of the corner of his eye.  
Writing.  
On the wall of the stall.  
Curious, he looked over to read it.  
“I have a giant crush on Yuri Plisetsky.”  
What?!  
He read over the eight words ten or twelve times, willing them to start making sense.  
What kind of person writes out their crush on a bathroom stall wall?  
What kind of person has a crush on me?  
How do I find this person?  
He noticed that the person has an odd way of writing their “i”s–making the dot on them a perfect circle. And their “a”s look very round and circular. Maybe…maybe he could find this person? Just based on their handwriting?  
He took a picture of the message, resolving to find this person.  
He wasn’t about to let some coward get away with writing something about him on a bathroom stall–it was time to own up to their actions.  
And maybe, Yuri thought quietly to himself, it’s time for me to finally get a date.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Yuri got all the way to theater class, last period of the day, and still didn’t have any damn answers. Plus, he was doubly frustrated, because he didn’t want to go to theater class, ever. The only reason he was in the stupid class was because it was the only elective that fit his schedule, and he had to have an elective.  
What a stupid rule, Yuri thought for probably the 15 billionth time since school had started. If you force an elective, people aren’t doing what they want.  
The one benefit to the class, which he wouldn’t even admit to himself, was watching Otabek. He’d never say it out loud, but Yuri genuinely enjoyed seeing Otabek every day, even if he DID have to be in this stupid class. Compared to Yuri’s short, blonde, skinny, and angry person, Otabek was almost entirely opposite. He was a tanned, raven-haired beauty, tall and calm every second of the day. He had an almost unfair amount of talent in theater, and basically everyone in the class wanted to be partners with him for the next project. But he never expressed interest in anyone. He was so detached, so…far away. So unknown.  
Yuri only snapped out of his stupor (in which he was staring at Otabek with a puzzled, determined look on his face) when the other person in the class with an undercut butted in.  
“Whatcha looking at, kitty cat?” teased JJ Leroy, aka literally the last person on earth that Yuri wanted to see right now.  
“Fuck off, JJ.” He growled, looking at the floor, trying to picture the handwriting on the stall in his mind. If that was JJ, I’m swearing off guys forever.  
“Aww, kitty’s having a bad day. Remind me to bring you catnip tomorrow.” JJ crashed into the seat next to Yuri, much to the shorter boy’s annoyance.  
“Remind me to bring your girlfriend some makeup tomorrow. She’s in sore need of it.” Yuri bit back, smug. JJ frowned, but didn’t reply. “Cat got your tongue, Leroy?”  
Before JJ could think of a clever response, the bell rang, and class began. A new assignment was being given. They would have skits, in partner sized groups. Yuri felt a knot in his stomach. Not JJ, not JJ, please not JJ…  
“Yuri, you’ll be with Otabek.”  
…huh?  
Yuri looked up, taking the script in front of him. Shit. Otabek? Great. Now he was going to make a fool of himself. He shook his head in a sad attempt to clear the millions of thoughts running through his mind, and stood up, managing to walk over to Otabek.  
Otabek nodded at him, and Yuri swore he saw a hint of a smile on his lips for only a moment.  
“I don’t know if you’ve glanced at the script yet. You may not like it.” Otabek spoke in short, terse sentences.  
Yuri hadn’t even thought about the script. He looked down at the pages, cocking an eyebrow.  
…a couple in love? Really?  
“Shit. I don’t do the lovey-dovey crap well. This…might be difficult.” Yuri groaned, falling down into the seat next to Otabek.  
“Why don’t we just try reading through it for now?” Otabek asked, and Yuri nodded in agreement. They skimmed through the script, reading it quietly. Yuri bit his lip as he read the stage directions, wherein he and Otabek were supposed to hug, hold each other’s hands, and be close all the time. Shit. No way in hell would he survive this assignment.  
He chanced a glance over at Otabek during a particularly loving line, and if he hadn’t known better, he might’ve said that there was a blush on the tall boy’s cheeks.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Two days later, and there were two large things wrong with Yuri’s life.  
First of all, he hadn’t found the damn person who wrote about him on the bathroom stall yet. Second, he was doing horribly in his skit with Otabek.  
“I don’t understand!” Yuri yelled, glad that the two had been allowed to practice in one of the sound proof practice rooms originally designed for members of the band and choir. “Why the fuck isn’t this working?!”  
“You’re angry.” Otabek replied calmly. Yuri glared over at him.  
“Thanks, Captain Obvious.”  
“When you’re angry, you can’t let in the loving nature that is required for this skit.” Otabek said it like a simple fact, not like something that caused Yuri to flush with anger and embarrassment. “You need to decide what love is to you, and reflect that in the performance.”  
“I’m in high school. I have no way of knowing what love is.” Yuri replied bitterly, slumping down into a grumpy ball on a piano bench.  
“That’s not true. Love takes many forms. Familial, platonic, romantic…unrequited…” Yuri’s eyebrow raised at the last word. What kind of person didn’t like Otabek?  
“Unrequited?”  
“As in, you love someone who does not love you back.”  
“I know what it means, you fucking egg.” Yuri spat. “You just seemed to say it as if you had some personal experience with the idea. I’m intrigued.”  
Otabek paused, a hint of telling redness flooding to the tips of his ears and the apples of his cheeks.  
“It’s…nothing important. Silly high school crushes will be what they are.” Otabek rushed through the sentence, showing more expression in his embarrassment than Yuri had ever seen from him outside of his acting. Yuri smiled softly.  
“Someone’s sensitive about the subject…” he mused softly to himself, smirking.  
“…anyway, focusing on the skit. We have to perform tomorrow. Would you like to come over to my house tonight to practice? It’s fine if you say no, it’s just an idea–”  
“Yes! I mean…yes. That sounds nice.” Yuri flushed a bit more himself, trying his best not to come off as too eager. He wouldn’t want to scare him away.  
Otabek gave a soft hint of a smile, and Yuri felt his heart skip a beat. Surely, this was purely a coincidence.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Thank you for being with me up till now. I couldn’t think of anything else that would fit than this. But I, um, I’ll do my best tomorrow! So…it’s a good luck charm!” Yuri managed to stumble through the words on the page in front of him.  
“It’s all right. It’s a good luck charm that you don’t have to think anything about. Tomorrow, show me the skating program that you love the most. A good luck charm that will pave the road to the gold medal.” Otabek lounged in his desk chair, not even looking at the script. Of course he had it memorized.  
“This is fucking stupid. Why does anyone care about two figure skaters getting engaged? No one in the real world would ever care about any of this.” Yuri groaned, face red with anger and embarrassment at the words the script forced him to say.  
“They aren’t getting engaged, they’re sharing good luck charms.” Otabek replied, with zero emotion in his voice.  
“Bullshit.” Yuri replied, rolling his eyes and pacing. “They are exchanging rings, in front of a church, with loving words. They’re getting engaged.”  
Yuri saw the very corner of Otabek’s mouth lift in a manner that could possibly be misconstrued as a smile, there in a flash and gone just as quickly. He flushed more.  
“You care a lot about this.”  
“You don’t seem to care about anything.” Yuri countered. Otabek simply raised an eyebrow. “How can you possibly have so much emotion in your acting and so little in real life?” Otabek shrugged.  
“Acting is an outlet. If I showed how much emotion I feel regularly, things would go wrong. I’ve only done it once before, and it…didn’t work out.”  
“What’s that supposed to mean? What happened?”  
Otabek looked unsure for a moment, but sighed. “I told a guy I liked him, he didn’t reciprocate the feeling.”  
Now it was Yuri’s turn to raise an eyebrow. First of all, who turns down Otabek Altin? Second, Otabek is into guys…interesting. Third…  
“Does this have anything to do with that unrequited love thing earlier?” Yuri managed to ask. Otabek froze.  
“Nononono, that’s an entirely different guy, he just doesn’t seem to know I exist. I mean, not exactly, like, we know each other, he just–” Otabek finally stopped the mortifying rambling when there was a knock at the door. He sighed with relief. “Come in.”  
The door opened, and an older woman stood there, smiling slightly at the sight of Yuri, but furrowing her eyebrows at Otabek.  
“Beka, honey, is your friend here staying for dinner?” She asked, looking concerned. Otabek looked to Yuri, who flushed in return.  
“I, uh, well–um…y-yeah, s-sure, I guess…” He stammered, embarrassed.  
“We have much work left on this rehearsal, mother. If it is alright, he could stay through dinner.” Otabek translated to his confused looking mother. She nodded.  
“Of course. Not a problem.” She bustled back over to the door, pausing as she reached the door frame. “Ah…if there is a boy in here, I would prefer the door stay open, Beka.”  
Yuri and Otabek both froze, flushing a hot red as Mrs. Altin walked away.  
Otabek shrunk into his chair. “Fuck. Sorry. My mom is…just…sorry.”  
Yuri turned to him, a little surprised. “I didn’t know you could cuss, or be embarrassed, or show any emotion. You’re letting your wall down, Altin.” Otabek managed to smile a bit, in spite of himself.  
“Maybe.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
At dinner, Yuri had not expected to be so thoroughly interrogated by Otabek’s little sister, Ayzere. She was young, probably a freshman, a year or two younger than Yuri. But she certainly didn’t act the part of the meek freshman–she was loud, and intimidating.  
“So, how do you know my brother?” She gave a sly look in Otabek’s direction, which was met with a clear “watch it” look from the elder sibling.  
“Theater class.”  
“And creative writing.” Otabek added, staring down at his food.  
“…creative writing?” Yuri replied, confused. “I haven’t taken it since freshman year, and that was two years ago. I don’t remember seeing you…”  
“I wasn’t too memorable back then. Besides, I sat in the back. I just remember that you were strong and intimidating every time you presented a piece to the class…you never looked anyone in the eye, you looked just above them. You looked like a soldier.”  
Yuri froze for a moment, surprised. Otabek had…noticed him?  
“O-oh.” He managed, a stupid reply. Ayzere grinned mischievously, as if she was planning something.  
“So, Yuri…you’re a junior, are you going to prom with anyone?” she asked innocently, but it was clear she had ulterior motives. Otabek glared pointedly at her.  
“I, ah…not currently, no. It seems I’m not much in the dating scene at the moment.” Yuri replied carefully, afraid to say something stupid. And yet, he continued, trying to ramble through the awkward silence. “The closest I’ve come to a relationship is that some mystery person admitted to having a crush on me on a bathroom stall at school, but I still don’t know who they were-”  
Yuri was abruptly interrupted by Otabek, who had choked on his food a bit. While the blonde stood there, shell shocked and confused, Mrs. Altin sprang into action, quickly rising to walk over and smack Otabek harshly on the back, after which he recovered. Ayzere giggled.  
“Smooth move, Beka.” She teased. Yuri bit his lip nervously.  
“Are you okay? Do you need water? What happened?” the younger boy fretted over the older, who waved him off with a small smile.  
“It’s fine, I’m fine. Just choked. I’m fine now.” Otabek reassured, and finally, Yuri relaxed. “Should we go back to my room and keep working on the skit?”  
Yuri could only nod in return, while Ayzere appeared to be plotting maliciously, just from the looks of her.  
They returned to Otabek’s room, and Yuri took a seat on the chair at the desk, glancing over the papers spread across it.  
It took a moment.  
But he noticed it.  
Otabek’s handwriting.  
The i’s with the circular dots. The round a’s.  
Yuri pulled out his phone. He couldn’t help it, pulling up the picture in record time.  
It only took a moment to confirm.  
The handwriting matched.  
It was Otabek who had a secret crush on him.  
Oh god.  
He turned to face Otabek, his face bright red.  
Otabek stared back, a puzzled look on his face.  
Yuri couldn’t find words. He couldn’t manage to get anything out of his mouth except–  
“Y-you?” he managed to ask, stuttering furiously. Otabek looked more confused for a moment, and then froze, seeing the screen of Yuri’s phone, filled with his handwriting.  
“Yuri…” he mumbled softly, ashamed, clearly. Embarrassed. Concerned.  
Yuri stared down at the floor, his face heating. “You think I don’t know you exist, huh?” He gave a wry laugh, able to feel the heat coming off his face.  
“No, it’s not that…I just…you never talked to me, and…I just…” Now it was Otabek’s turn to stumble clumsily over his words.  
Yuri pulled himself to stand, and walk up to Otabek, the latter of whom froze and turned an even brighter red that Yuri had never thought possible.  
“I, uh…next time, do shit like that in person, asshole.” Yuri moaned, looking into Otabek’s eyes, the color of the coffee that you need so desperately when finals happen, or the chocolate when things go bad. “I went on a fucking witch hunt to find you.”  
Otabek startled a little. “I didn’t think you’d see it, or care.”  
Yuri laughed. “Believe me. I care.”  
Otabek smiled softly at Yuri’s laugh. “So…what now…?”  
Yuri looked up at him. His lips parted softly, leaning upwards and moving forwards by the micrometer, till their lips were a centimeter apart.  
“Kiss me?” Yuri breathed hotly onto Otabek’s lips. Otabek’s breath caught for the slightest of moments before he closed the minuscule gap in between them, kissing Yuri with gentle, feather-like lips that were so fucking soft. It only took a moment for Yuri to push inwards and deepen the kiss, lips pressing harder, tongue exploring with what seemed to be a mind of it’s own, their hands clenched into Otabek’s shirt and Yuri’s hair, breathing hot breaths. Yuri pulled away only for a moment, trying to breathe, when Otabek took charge, gently biting the younger boy’s lip to pull him back into the heated moment.  
It was incredible. And it continued and continued…until there was the sound of a particular Mrs. Altin clearing her throat at the door, stopping the boys dead in their tracks.  
“This is why I said to leave the bloody door open.”  
Yuri’s face went pale. Otabek gave a sheepish chuckle.  
“Sorry, mama.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The next day, the two were supposed to present what they had come up with as far as the skit went. Yuri…he should’ve been nervous, but an unnatural and uncharacteristic calm fell over him.  
Odd.  
He entered the class, looking around subconsciously for Otabek, yet…he wasn’t there. Shit. Now what? Yuri felt his trepidatious calm shattering right before him. He took a random seat.  
However, just before the ring of the final bell, Otabek ducked through the door, swiftly tucking something into his pocket. Yuri wanted to question it, but just as Otabek sat down next to him, the teacher began to speak. Damnit, Yuri cursed, making a mental note to ask Otabek about that later. For the moment though, he scanned his lines once again as the teacher went off on some tangent about his weekend. Why are theater teachers always so talkative?  
Not talkative enough, Yuri thought to himself as the teacher finally shut up and he stood, shaking only slightly, to go set the stage for the skit. It was a simple setting, so there wasn’t much to do. And then, before he was in any way ready, the scene began.  
He got through his first couple of lines okay, discussing how he “couldn’t find the right thing to repay his wonderful coach” until he found some ring. Fucking cheesy script writers. He went to go pantomime slipping a ring onto Otabek’s finger, the blush on his cheeks clear, but the taller boy casually slipped him an actual ring to use. Yuri’s eyes widened, looking up at Otabek. The older boy nodded slightly, and so he continued the skit with the little gold ring, slipping it onto the other’s ring finger, and saying his lines.  
Otabek smiled as he went right into his lines, pulling another ring out of his pocket to push onto Yuri’s ring finger. The blonde boy’s mouth opened slightly in amazement as the ring fit perfectly. How…?  
From there, they managed to finish the cheesy, overly romantic skit. Yuri gulped down fear about the judgements of his peers, scared that they would tease the two for the romance. But they finished the text and…applause. Just applause.  
The duo returned to their seats, giving Yuri time to present Otabek with an incredibly bewildered face. “How in the hell…?”  
“Shh. Just…read the inside of the ring.” Otabek was blushing furiously, looking anywhere but at Yuri. The younger boy raised an eyebrow, but did as he was told.  
“prom?”  
Yuri gasped, looking up from the ring at Otabek, who was eyeing him nervously, and nodding furiously. It was a perfect promposal. Not to over-the-top or public, but something simple and beautiful and quiet…just like Yuri’s new prom date.  
Otabek smiled widely, a rare gift from him, and plucked the ring out of Yuri’s fingers, sliding it back onto his hand.  
“I’m glad. You can call me Beka, by the way…if you want to…or whatever.”  
Yuri smiled widely.  
“Call me Yura.”

**Author's Note:**

> well thanks for sticking it out my dude i hope it wasn't too terrible!!  
> comments are welcome and you can hit me up on tumblr @plisestkypng


End file.
